KRG President Massoud Barzani. (Source: Reuters)
Developments in Iraq
- The political crisis regarding the fate of VP-in-exile Tareq al-Hashemi continued today, as Kurdish Regional Government President Massoud Barzani has refused a request by the central government to turn Hashemi over to them. (Source: Al Arabiya)
- Moqtada al-Sadr this week condemned Basra’s nightclubs, and called for the Iraqi government to work toward the closure of these establishments. Sadr condemned the music and dancing that the clubs are known for, viewing that they will lead to a decline in Iraqi society. (Source: Al Sumaria News)
- In the past week, Sadr has also vehemently denied that his followers were behind the killings of Iraqi “Emo” youth that have been taking place in Baghdad in the last month. Even while he condemned the killings, he did not hesitate to call these “emo,” (a term whose original meaning has morphed in Iraq to include a broad swath of perceived cultural “subversives”) a “scourge” upon Iraqi society.